The Two Jedi: A Star Wars Story
by SAOAddict
Summary: Two Jedi, leading independent units during the height of the Clone Wars. Very incomplete.
1. Author's Note

Hey guys, this story is incomplete and will probably remain that way. My buddy (who isn't on this site unfortunately) and I wrote most of it a year or so ago, but haven't had a chance to work on it in a very long time. I'm posting what we have in the hopes that someone will have some ideas on how to continue it, and we might start working on it again. Thanks, and please enjoy!


	2. Chapter 1

**Theron Stari || Section 1**

 **0600 hours||Geonosis**

Boss was exhausted and, though they would never admit it, so was the rest of his squad. Delta Squad had been fighting on the dusty, sand-covered surface of Geonosis for nearly twelve hours. Of course, they had been fighting for longer than that, but before than they had at least been doing what they were meant to do. They were commandos, meant to infiltrate and destroy enemy targets to pave the way for the infantry behind them. That had been their original mission, taking down a Geonosian leader, then blowing up a droid foundry. But now, command had them fighting as basic infantry. Orders were coming from a Jedi called Kit Fisto, who obviously had no idea how to coordinate a land engagement.

Fixer, the squad's tech expert, called over to Boss. The interruption broke Boss out of his reverie. "Sarge, this droid's computer is showing a request for reinforcements to deal with a small unit just north of us. Sounds like another commando unit having a problem. Should we act on it?" Fixer asked him. He had been interrogating the computer from a battle droid commander they had destroyed while the squad took some much-needed rest.

Boss looked over his squad. Fixer was the only one with his helmet off, so Boss could see the bags under his eyes and how he fought to keep his eyes open. Boss turned the other way, seeing Scorch, the squad demolitions expert, standing with slumped shoulders. Boss clicked on his com. "How you doing, Sev?" he commed to the squad sniper, who sat atop the mesa they had used as shelter, specifically a cave part of the way up, scanning the area for enemy forces.

Sev came back quickly. "Tired, but I can go another few rounds with the tinnies," he responded. All of them had heard what Fixer said and knew what the stakes were.

Boss made a quick decision. "Delta Squad RC-1138 to Command. Do you read?"

The reply came quickly. "Delta Lead, this is Command. Go ahead."

"We intercepted an enemy reinforcement call. It sounds like they have another commando squad pinned down just north of us. Requesting permission to move to assist."

Boss heard the trooper on the other end of the line converse with someone, then someone new came online. "Delta Lead, this is Jedi Master Kit Fisto. We think that there might be a Jedi with that squad. Do you think they need help?"

Boss looked at Scorch, who quickly flashed him a data stream from the droid comm network. "Sir, our hack is reporting three squads of B1s responding, as well as another squad of SBDs."

"Could you explain that in layman's terms?"

Boss sighed inwardly at the obvious inexperience of the new command. "About fifteen normal battle droids and five super battle droids. And that's in addition to about twenty battle droids already at the location."

The Jedi hesitated, then spoke quickly. "Do whatever you think is necessary, Sergeant. Fisto out."

Boss turned to his squad and opened the squad channel. "Shoot up on enough stims to last two hours. After that we should have either been extracted or we won't have to worry about how much energy we have anymore," Boss barked. "Gather up your weapons and let's move out." Delta began to gather up their gear. Sev gathered up the bipod for his sniper rifle he had picked up, as well as the flash and sound suppressors he kept so he could quietly eliminate enemy patrols. Scorch picked up his explosive kit, and Fixer gathered together his slicing tools. Boss picked up the energy projector he had picked up from the corpse of a Geonosian elite. "Everyone ready? Let's move!" The squad descended to the canyon floor, fast-roping down the side of the mesa. A map of the surrounding canyons appeared on Boss's HUD, mapping out the route to the location of the other commando squad, courtesy of Fixer.

Boss led the squad into a western-facing canyon, which fed into a canyon that led more or less due north to the location of the enemy reinforcement call. The squad followed the twists and turns of the canyon, until suddenly the walls opened up and they could hear the sound of blaster fire, both the high _prang_ of the DC-17 rifle the commandos all carried, as well as the lower _bdapp_ of the droid's blasters. Boss snapped the comm on. "Sev. Climb the wall to the left and give us sniper cover. Scorch. Give us five seconds to get to cover then lay down a three grenade spread, two meter spacing. Fixer, the two of us are going to move in through the sides and lay down fire so we can get to cover," he rattled off. Sev immediately turned and fired a grappling line up the wall, ascending the wall and disappearing over the top of the cliff.

A moment later, a light flashed on in the corner of Boss's HUD, indicating that Sev was in position. He waved Fixer and Scorch into position, flicking the safety on his rifle to double check that it was off. He raised one hand, three fingers raised. _Three…two…one!_ He pumped his now clenched fist, and he and Scorch charged in, unleashing a torrent of blaster fire into the circular area between huge walls. Time seemed to slow down, as he watched his shots crash into one, two, three droids. Then he was sliding into cover next to a figure in the instantly recognizable robes of the Jedi. He took a moment to look at the singular figure he fought alongside. As Boss went to reload his blaster, the Jedi poked his head out of cover, lifting what Boss recognized as the standard trooper-issue DC-15 blaster and firing at the advancing line of droids. Boss was surprised to see that this Jedi seemed to wield a blaster with equal dexterity as most Jedi wielded their lightsaber, as half of the first line of droids dropped with smoking holes through their command unit.

"Nice shooting, sir!" Boss shouted over the din of blaster fire. "Must be nice to have Force-assisted aim!"

The Jedi turned to him, revealing a smiling, average looking face. Black hair, average face. The only distinguishing feature to him was a fresh wound the ran from the corner of his right eye down his cheek. "Force aiming?" he called back. "I've probably spent more time with blasters than you have, Sergeant. The Force has nothing to do with it."

As they spoke, the second wave of battle droids arrived with the super battle droids behind them. The Jedi popped out of cover again, firing a tight grouping of plasma rounds into the sunken control unit of the nearest SBD. Boss accounted for another one of the large droids with a grenade, while several shots in quick succession from Sev's position accounted for a third. The droids began to withdraw to cover, having encountered stiffer resistance than they had expected. The survivors were a pair of super battle droids, along with two squads of still-surviving B1s. Only twelve enemy units left standing out a force of thirty-five.

Boss took the moment to assess his resources as Scorch slid into cover behind a rock approximately a meter away from Boss and the Jedi. One full of squad of commandos, his own, a Jedi, and, he noticed, as two new IFF tags appeared on his HUD, a pair of commandos in shimmer-camouflage armor lying in small foxholes at the edges of the canyon. They had accounted for the majority of the B1 reinforcements with small bursts of fire so that their positions wouldn't be targeted. As he watched, the troopers broke out of their cover, dashing to the small field of rocks that the Jedi and Delta occupied.

The pair of troopers slid behind the large boulder that Boss and the Jedi sheltered behind right as hail of blaster bolts slammed into the ground where they had been moments before. The troopers noticed that his IFF tag marked him as a sergeant, and immediately saluted. "Sir!" the first one barked. "RCs 3803 and 0301 reporting."

"Good to have you, commando. Names?" Boss returned.

"Kav and Pront," the other trooper replied. "The other two in our squad went down when this ambush started."

The Jedi spoke. "My name is Theron Stari. I'm a Jedi Guardian Padawan specializing in the use of blasters and other ranged weapons."

"Does that mean you're not as good with other abilities?" Boss asked. "I mean no disrespect, but I need to know your abilities so that we can get out of this alive."

"Don't worry, Sergeant. My Force skills are the same level as any other Jedi, and my lightsaber skill is nearly unparalleled within the Order," he responded.

A shout came from just to their left, where Fixer hunkered under the cover of a small boulder. "Sir! More enemy units incoming! We need to bang out now!" he yelled.

Theron responded immediately. "You heard the man. Time to go," he said. "Boss, take Kav and Pront and get them out of here. I'll cover your backs."

"Sir, I can't allow you to do that," Boss responded. "Your life is worth all of ours."

" _Shab_ , that's complete _osik_. You're men too. Now get ready to run for the canyon mouth when I tell you to. I'll throw two grenades, then follow. Your sniper will have to cover us from there."

With that, Theron stood up and bowled two grenades at the two groups of droids while the rest of the squad scrambled out of the death trap. As Theron sprinted to catch up, he heard the _prang_ of Sev's sniper fire taking out the remaining droids. As they exited the canyon, a LAAT/i dropped down and the group of soldiers scrambled aboard, Sev jumping on right as it lifted off.

 **Section 1 - Theron Stari - Finish**


	3. Chapter 2

**Section 2 - Ethibril Kiro**

 **0630 hours- Geonosis**

 _Bdapp, bdapp, bdapp._ Beta Squad Sniper RC-4444, also called Four fired another spray of blaster fire from his ledge on the large cliff he was stationed at. "Four! I need you to fire a spray of blaster fire towards the east side of the canyon to make way for Beta squad and the Jedi!" buzzed in Sergeant Spark through his comlink. "Affirmative" Four replied as he readjusted his sights on the large boulder that was protecting half of the commando squad known as Beta team. With the cover given, six clone commandos and one Jedi lept from their cover, immediately raining blaster fire on the seemingly endless wave of B1 and B2 battle droids coming from the other end of the canyon.

The Jedi moved effortlessly, cutting down battle droids with his twin green lightsabers like it was nothing more than a simulation back at the Jedi temple, and his brown robes whipped around him, his brown medium length hair was disheveled and unorthodox. But, in his own mind, Jedi Knight Ethibril Kiro was exhausted. _We've been fighting for 4 hours straight in just this one battle! The clones and myself cannot go on like this! Where are the reinforcements?!_ He thought to himself as he continued to cut down a pair of B2 battle droids with a sweep of his emerald blade. He took cover behind a second large rock, where a communications clone and 2 other commandos were also trying to rest. "Spark, where are the reinforcements we were told by command that we would receive!?" he said angrily, while using a force pulse to flip a tank onto a contingent of droids. "Were not sure sir." replied Sergeant Spark hastily."We have been trying to reach them for the past hour, but we haven't gotten any responses. We think that the reinforcements may have been compromised.". "Blast!" Ethibril muttered.

"Try and contact central command and see if they have any clones or tanks or SOMETHING that we can use as reinforcements" He said. An explosion rocked the barrier that they were hiding behind. "I'll get right on that sir!" replied the comm clone. "Central Command, this is Alpha squad, repeat do you read?" the clone said into the holo communicator "We read you Alpha squad" came a blue figure onto the flat disc the clone had in his hand. "My name is Jedi General Aayla Secura, what seems to be the problem?" said the Twi'lek inquisitively. "Master Secura, my name is Ethibril Kiro, I am a Jedi Shadow specializing in advanced lightsaber techniques and advanced use of the force. I was placed in charge of an ambush on a battalion of battle droids that were headed to reinforce the main battle about 25 klicks from our position. The attack went terribly wrong and it has come to a stalemate, where neither side can gain ground on the other. Only myself, Alpha squad and Beta squad remain. We are in dire need of reinforcements. Are you able to resupply us?". The blue Jedi talked to someone for a moment that they could not see, and then turned back to the holocommunicator, all the while Ethibril and the two clone commandos were returning fire to the droids (or deflecting blaster fire back at the droids in the Ethibril's case) "General Kiro, I am sorry, no reinforcements seem to be available except for one gunship and a small force of clones, and even if we did send them, it would take at least an hour and 30 minutes to get to you position." she said "Well send that then!" shouted Ethibril over the sound of exploding battle droids. " We will find a way to delay these droids for a couple of hours, or to stop them completely, just send that gunship!" He replied firmly. Just then, a tank fired its primary cannon at the rock the 4 were hiding behind, and Ethibril and the other 3 clones were thrown backwards in a violent explosion of the rock.

"Jax is dead sir!" called Spark from across the battlefield. " Take the body and the comm clone back to our third defense line, and then come back to the battle, I'll cover you!" Spark nodded in affirmation as he heaved the dead body of his fallen comrade and supported the communications clone as they both limped across the battlefield to where a small laser cannon sat nestled in a crevice along the cliff face, with the Jedi Knight drawing fire for them. One of the many blaster bolts directed at Ethibril struck him in his right leg. Pain shot up his leg like a red hot iron being pressed up against his leg. He bit his tongue to prevent him from screaming out in pain, and kept on fighting. He used his extensive knowledge of the Ataru fighting style to his advantage, springboarding off of a droid and spinning his blades around, making a spinning wheel of green death. He cut down as many as 9 droids in that one move. When he landed, the battle droids swarmed over him, and the Jedi called upon the force that flows through every being, and slammed the ground and at the same time, releasing that force energy from his body and into the ground, making a shockwave that blew back all the droids surrounding him, and toppling a tank. He then used the force to leap back over the droids and over to the sniper hole where Four was. The clone commando was extremely surprised to see the Jedi-er, what was his name, oh yeah something like. . . oh yeah Ethibril- land with a _thump_ right next to him. "Sir?" the clone asked. "Four, get Alpha squad leader Spark on you comm if you will" the Jedi said cooly. "Yes sir, let me just get my commlink out." As he took out his commlink from his utility belt he noticed that the Jedi was limping, and that a wound on his right leg, sported a fresh stream of blood from it. "Sir, are you alright?" the clone asked. "Yes I am fine, now where is that comlink?" "Right here sir." said Four as he gave the comm to Ethibril. "Spark, it's me Ethibril, do you read?" "Loud and clear sir."the clone commando replied "I think I have a plan for how to delay the droids long enough for us to make our escape. What if I create a force shock wave so strong that it pushes back the entire contingent of droids behind those 2 weak ledges a couple feet behind the main force, and then you could then order your rocket troopers to fire at those ledges, which should trap the force of droids long enough for the gunship to come pick us up." There was silence for a moment and then "I think that just might work sir." replied the Sergeant assuredly. "But sir, do you think you will be able to generate enough power?" Spark asked. "Just have your men cover me long enough for me to get to the center of the advancing force to get the job done.". After the Jedi severed communications with the commando Sergeant, Spark ordered the two demolition experts, Scar and Quark, to go on either side of the battlefield, set up their rocket launchers and on his command, give those two ledges everything they've got.

Meanwhile, Ethibril danced through the waves of battle droids, cutting down a few but not as many as he could for the sake of time. _I can do this. . . I think._ He said to himself as made his way to the center of the droid force. With the remaining clones drawing the metallic menaces' fire, Ethibril was virtually undisturbed. He focused on the remaining force of the droids, and remembered what his master and good friend, Jedi Master Bompardi Sikalya told him, "If you believe in the power of the force, and have the will power to use it, it will never fail you.". This was enough, with a mighty heave, Ethibril released the force upon the advancing droids. The ground shook beneath the Jedi and the droid's feet as the droids were blown back by the invisible shock wave.

Once Sergeant Spark saw that the main force was behind the marker, he lifted and then pumped his fist while shouting "NOW!" into his comlink, and at once the two rocket clones fired a volley of missiles, while several commandos also shot at the ledges. Within a few seconds, the ledges came tumbling down onto the droid force, crushing much and trapping the rest. The stragglers were quickly dealt with by the clones. "Sir, you did it!" exclaimed Spark over the comlink. "Yeah, I guess I di-" Ethibril was cut off as he collapsed to the ground. "Sir!" the clone commando said as he rushed over to him with a medic. "Sir are you alright?" Spark asked worriedly. "I'm -nngh- fine Sergeant, it's just that I have never used the force in such a large quantity before like I just did." He said as he struggled to get up, but failed. "Woah sir! Take it easy." the medical officer said firmly as he supported Ethibril with his shoulder "You've got a nasty wound on your leg.". Just then the clones heard a roar in the sky, the gunship had arrived! With the help of the medical officer and Spark, Ethibril was able to hobble over to the gunship, and once the rest of the clone force got on, lift off to return to base.

 **Section 2- Ethibril Kiro- Finish**


	4. Chapter 3

**Section 3 || Theron Stari - Start**

 **1200 hours || Geonosis Airspace**

It had been six hours since Theron and Delta had withdrawn from the canyon. They had spent the next two hours hopping from hotspot to hotspot on a series of gunships and AT-TEs, shoring up defenses wherever they could. Finally, though, they were on board a Star Destroyer, the _Claranassi,_ en route back to Coruscant. They had been aboard the Destroyer for three hours, and the time was approaching when they would drop out of hyperspace over the city-planet that was the capital of the newly divided Galactic Republic. Theron had spent the first hour trying to sleep, but the leftover adrenaline still in his system had eliminated all hope of sleep, prompting him to wander the ship in the hopes of burning the adrenaline out of his system.

Rounding a corner, Theron ran almost straight into another limping young man wearing a tattered, blaster-scorched cloak with a pair of lightsabers hanging at his belt. For a moment, he thought he was looking in a mirror, as he was sure he looked just as bad as the other man did. Then his brain kicked in, and he realized that he was staring at another Jedi, one he had been in the same youngling clan in but hadn't talked to more than once or twice since they began their apprenticeships. A smile spread across his face, glad to see the other man alive. "Ethibril!"

Ethibril looked up, a smile matching Theron's spreading across his face as he realized who he was talking to. "Theron! It's been a while. What are the odds of winding up on the same ship back to Coruscant?"

"I would imagine pretty low, what with all the new ships we suddenly got."

Ethibril gave a pained smile as Theron gazed down at his friend's right leg, which was wrapped in extremely bloody gauze, and Ethibril was limping, Theron had noticed. "What the _shab_ happened to you?" Theron asked with a mildly surprised look on his face.

"Oh, just Geonosis." Ethibril said with a wince as he tried to put weight on the leg."

"Oh, you wouldn't even believe it." Theron replied amused.

They spent the next hour relating their stories on Geonosis with each other. After a while though, their conversation turned towards other events.

. "I don't see a braid on you. When did you make Knight?"

"A few months before all of this stupidity with Dooku started up. The Trials weren't too bad, but they certainly weren't easy. What about you? Still struggling along?"

"You know _shabla_ well that I'm just as good as you, I just got the tougher Master. And I had to learn more, what with specializing in ranged weapons."

"I know, I know. Though I had forgotten about your tendency to curse in Mandalorian."

"What can I say? I'm Mandalorian, and the Jedi didn't take me until I was nearly eight. Took them forever to look for Force-sensitives on a backwater like Mandalore."

Ethibril grinned at him. "Still, I'm a Knight, and you're still a Padawan. I think that means that I won our bet from way back when. Remember that?"

Theron groaned. "What was it? Fifty credits?"

Ethibril kept smiling. "Yeah, but you can keep your credits. I'm just going to enjoy lording this one over you for the rest of your life."

Theron muttered under his breath. "Kriffing _shabuir_."

"What was that, _Padawan_?" he asked, laying extra emphasis on Theron's title.

"Nothing, _sir_ ," Theron responded mockingly.

The verbal sparring would undoubtedly would have continued, but at that moment the _Claranassi_ shuddered out of hyperspace. As soon as the ship cleared the last of the hyperspace tunnel, Theron's comlink buzzed with a message. Theron looked down at his com, and his face visibly paled.

 _Theron, Master Torin is in critical condition. There is nothing we can do. He wants to see you, but he doesn't have long. Come quickly._

 _\- Master Yoda_

Ethibril frowned, seeing the change in Theron's face. "What's wrong?"

"My master is wounded. Badly. I need to get down there _now_. How kriffing long is it going to take to get in close?"

"Two hours at best, sir." The answer came from a passing clone naval officer.

"Thank you, OPS," Ethibril said. "Theron, follow me. I know how we can get there faster."

The pair quickly jogged (Well, for Ethibril, it was more of a forced gallop) from the small viewport access hallway to the hangar, clone soldiers and officer stepping smartly out of the way of the two Jedi. Ethibril scrambled into the cockpit of a V-19 Torrent, signaling for Theron to climb into the one next to his. "I have access codes for the planetary shield," he explained. "I can get us down to the planet. Shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes in these babies."

"Let's go," Theron responded immediately. Theron signaled the control booth to make sure that the launch zone was clear, then followed his friend into space. It took fifteen minutes to get within transmitting range of the shield, then another two for Ethibril to transmit the clearance codes. Eight minutes later, the fighters touched down on one of the Jedi Temple's landing pads.

Theron was out of the cockpit and sprinting towards the medical halls almost before he had finished landing the fighter. He scrambled through the vast, empty hallways of the temple, finally reaching the medical suites. Yoda stood outside one of the doors, and saw him as he came barreling down the hall. "Theron!" he called in his croaky voice. "Just in time, you have come. Not much longer to live, I fear your Master has. Inside, he is."

Theron opened the door, sliding inside as soon as it opened wide enough and going to his Master's side. Master Torin was a Kel'Dor of indeterminate age, though had always had the wisdom of an ancient and the vitality of a youth. Now, his features seemed to sag and the strength that had always been readily apparent had gone. Theron immediately saw the reason why, or rather the reasons. A series of blaster bolts had destroyed one of his eyes, the side of his head, and more had struck him in the chest.

"Master, I'm here," Theron said quietly.

"Good, you're here. Took you long enough," the Jedi said, with a hint of humor. "This is very important, so listen carefully. After Geonosis, and after talking with Master Yoda, we have agreed. You are ready to be Knighted, and Geonosis has taken the place of the Trials. Hand me my lightsaber from the table."

Theron picked up the saber from where it lay on the table next to his Master's bed, placing it in the Kel'Dor's trembling hand. The lights turned out, and the three other Jedi standing in the room, Master Yoda, Madame Jocasta Nu, and Ethibril, who had slipped in while he was occupied with his Master, flipped up their hoods and ignited their lightsabers. His Master ignited his, and touched first Theron's right shoulder, then his left. Finally, he severed Theron's braid with a twitch of his wrist, marking Theron as a full Jedi Knight and Guardian. "My final, and best apprentice. I could not … be … prouder. Take … my lightsaber. It … belongs with you now." The last was a gasp, as the suddenly old Jedi entered the void, becoming one with the Force. Theron grasped the saber, hooking it onto his belt before crouching down to rest his head on the edge of the bed.

Yoda stepped up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Rest, young Jedi. Need it, you do." A wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over Theron, and he toppled over, asleep before he hit the floor.

 **End Section**


	5. Chapter 4

**Section 4: Ethibril Kiro- Location- Malastare 0230 hours**

Ethibril sighed as he examined the bare terrain of the old mining planet of Malastare. It had been almost a year since he had lost his good friend and leader of his Alpha squad, Commander Spark on Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld. They had been retreating from an ambush within the lower levels of the planet's vast jungle. The squad had unfortunately, been traversing over a sinkhole, around 35 meters wide and who knows how deep. Commander Spark had realized what was about to happen, and pushed Ethibril across the rest of the sinkhole the second before it collapsed. Ethibril then tried to rescue him by lifting him up with the force, but he had been previously wounded in the shoulder, so he was not able to hold on to the veteran commando for long, but it was long enough for Spark to say that it was an honor to serve him and call him a friend.

Ethibril rubbed his left shoulder as he reminisced on that fateful day. He had been reassigned to a new unit with his lifelong friend and ally, Theron Stari, and his band of veteran commandos, some of the best in the business, but it never felt the same. He checked his commlink, 0730 hours, the rest would have already started to get up.

" _Wow, 5 hours of sitting, I must be getting soft,"_ Ethibril thought as he returned to the tent that he shared with Theron in the midst of somewhat of a circle of hammocks, speeders, and other tents. "Theron, hey, get up you lazy hutt!" Ethibril jeered as he poked and prodded Theron's body with the force.

"Shut it, you kriffing _shabuir_!" Theron responded groggily.

Ethibril knew that to other people, Theron was a little "rough around the edges" but if you really get to know him, he is the most loyal and trustworthy friend a Jedi could have. " Now get up, we need to get moving if we want to catch that drop ship, or do you want to be stuck here for 2 whole planetary cycles?" Ethibril said

"How bad could it be? Plenty of tinnies to shoot," he responded. "But, I do hate Dugs. Let's get our _shebs_ off this rock."

"Y'know, I really should have paid attention when we took that huttese class when we were still younglings." Ethibril said wistfully.

"Wouldn't do you any good, that was Mando'a," he responded.

"'Course it was." Ethibril said as the two began to pack up their gear and began, to wake the others.

Two hours later, having trekked around 6.2 miles, they finally reached the drop ship. As they left the atmosphere, Ethibril was looking at the ship's flight computer, hotwiring it to open up to all Republic channels, to try and scrounge for any interesting information. He often did this when he was bored.

"Still playing with computers, Ethibril? You should try a better pastime, like, oh, I don't know, shooting things. It's very therapeutic," Theron commented as he cleaned his DC-17 and Verpine Shatter gun. These were only some of his weapons, the man was practically a walking armory.

"You forget, I don't need to shoot things, I dual wield, and my computer and tech skill could save your butt one day." Ethibril retorted.

"True," Theron admitted. "But just one thing. My sniper skills already have saved your butt. And I dual wield too, remember?" as he gestured to his single bladed light blue lightsaber and his now dead master's yellow one. "Blasters are just better at range than saber throws or the Force."

This was a difficult subject for Ethibril to discuss, as he had been trained as a Jedi Shadow, to use the Force and his lightsabers in ways that normal Jedi could only imagine and use them to outmaneuver even the best of marksmen.

Suddenly, the computer that Ethibril was using lit up with alarms. Theron raced over to join his friend.

"What the shab is going on? Don't tell me you initiated a hull breach. Again," Theron snickered.

"NO! And that wasn't even me that time!" Ethibril added. "It's a message from General Arligan Zey from the Arca Barracks on Coruscant, recalling all available forces to defend the capital!"confirmed Ethibril

"Punch it Pilot!" yelled Theron.

"Yessir!" Shouts the pilot as he punches the ship into Hyperspace.

Down on Coruscant, Ethibril and Theron began to part ways "I'll watch your back from the skies!"

"I'll take out the AA guns they landed to give you clear skies. Good hunting, _vode! Oya, jettise!"_

"And to you as well!"Ethibril called as he raced off to the hangars. Once there, he made his way to hangar C2, where his personal modified green Eta-2 _Actis_ Class Jedi interceptor was housed, along with the 23rd Elite flight company in the 41st Elite Corps, or better known as "The Green Aces" because of their distinctive green markings on their ARC-170's .

They were the Elite clone pilots with more successful combat missions flown than all of the other flight contingents. They had been put under the command of Ethibril about 14 months ago, and Ethibril had gained respect for each and every one of the pilots. "Hello Cox, Jester."

"Good to see you again sir." replied Cox. He and Jester were the Flight Commander and the Wing Commander of the 23rd, and Ethibril had grown to like them.

"Ready to kick some tinny can sir?" asked Jester.

"Ready as I'll ever be" replied Ethibril with confidence.

"Hey boys, when we get back, drinks on me!" yelled another clone, whose name was Hermit. A cheer rose from the comms. "Alright boys, our mission is to take down as many ships as we can, and push back the ships as to cut off the remaining ground forces. Let's move!" The jedi shouted as he and the 50 Green Aces soared into the skies behind him.

"Cox, you take the left 25 and I'll take the right." "Roger that." Cox replied as he and 25 other pilots veered off to the left to begin to strafe a company of vulture droids. As for Ethibril's right side, they began to head towards a capital ship, and attempt to bring it down. "Remember, go for the bridge and the main thrusters!" Ethibril shouted over the massive amount of comm chatter, while dodging a barrage of laser fire from the ship's main batteries

As he was doing a flyby run with 3 other Green Aces, he turned over to see a cruiser class ship parallel to the one he was attacking, explode with an enormous BOOM and go crashing down towards Coruscant's surface.

"Cox! Direct your fighters to that ship and try to blow it up before it hits the surface!" Ethibril shouted.

"On it Commander!" the clone replied as he and his comrades turned their fire towards the sinking mass of flaming metal. Ethibril turned his attention back to the enormous capital ship in which he was trying to bring down. As he engaged in a dogfight, twisting and turning and performing very tight and difficult flight maneuvers to avoid being shot down, he felt a presence in the force, calling out for help.

He used his training in the art of telepathy to hone in on the being, and get a better "picture". Then, the being spoke directly to him.

 _Ethibril! Help me please! I am out numbered and they have blocked my escape route!_ Cried a female voice which Ethibril recognized instantly. _Sorrell! I'm here, where are you!?_ Ethibril telepathically said back.

The person who he had recognized was fellow jedi and secret lover Sorrell had met and started to see each other in secret when they were just Padawans, but he had not seen her since she had come to comfort him after Alpha squad had fallen in the sink hole. _I'm on the middle capital ship surrounded by smaller cruisers on the rightmost side of the battle field!_ Ethibril cursed under his breath because the ship she had just described was the ship he was trying to bring down. _Just stay there! I'm coming_ Ethibril said.

"Jester!" Ethibril called over the comms.

"Yes sir?" Jester said tightly as he blew up yet another vulture droid.

"I need you to temporarily take command of the right wing of fighters, I am going into the ship to rescue a fellow jedi on the ship." Ethibril ordered.

"But sir! We have already destroyed the bridge and most of the ship's stabilizers, I'd say the ship has 10 minutes at most!" replied Jester.

"10 minutes then." Ethibril said as he dived towards the damaged ship's hangar bays.

Once inside the hangar bay, he quickly dispatched some B-1's that were attempting to staunch the flames in the hangar. _I can't hold them off for much longer Ethibril, hurry!_

 _I'm coming!, just hold on!_ Ethibril replied as he leaped over a piece of scaffolding in a corridor that led to where Sorrell was. Minutes later he arrived to find a massive company on droids, concentrating fire on a small box, where a beautiful young jedi sentinel bobbed and weaved and cut down as many droids as she could with her orange double-bladed lightsaber, but was making no real progress.

Ethibril leapt into action, cutting down droids left and right and with a renewed vigor, and with the combined of Sorrell and Ethibril, they were able to destroy the force of droids.

They both stood in silence for a moment, panting until Ethibril broke the silence. "Sorrell I-" but he was cut off because Sorrell had advanced forward, and passionately kissed him. They again stood in silence for several minutes, basking in each other's love for the other. When they finally broke apart Ethibril again, broke the silence.

"We need to get going, this ship is falling apart." Ethibril said as part of the wall exploded behind them, spreading scraps of droids everywhere.

"You're right, let's go!" exclaimed Sorrell as she leapt back through the corridor from which Ethibril had originally came from, as though nothing had happened.

Once back at the hangar, Ethibril noticed that the flames were higher, and more and more of the ship was beginning to crumble and explode, so he guessed that they had maybe a minute left at most. "C'mon Sorrell! We need to hurry before we all implode!" Ethibril said with urgency. "I'm coming! It's kind of hard when you've got 3 broken ribs and a broken ankle!" Sorrell said angrily.

"OH! Sorry, why didn't you say so!" He said as he raced back to support her on his shoulder.

Everything around them was in chaos as they raced to Ethibril's interceptor. Once they got there, Ethibril lifted up Sorrell into the interceptor before he hopped in himself. He closed the hatch down and then, everything went black and he found himself in a dark room.

 _Come._

"Who's there?" Ethibril said warningly as he reached for his lightsabers, but they were not there.

 _Come to Dromund Kaas_

"Why? Who are you!?"

 _Come._

"Ethibril!" Sorrell exclaimed as she shook him hard in the shoulders.

"Hm? Oh, sorry let's go!" He shouted as he activated the thrusters and retracted the landing gear. He had no idea what he had just been apart of, or who he was talking to, but he couldn't worry about that now, because the ship was about to explode.

Just as his ship rocketed out of the hangars, the ship ripped apart with a loud explosion as it fell to the planet. As he looked out at the rest of the still raging battle, he saw the flagship of the armada crumble and fall, and he knew the day was not yet over, but that possibly the tables had turned in their favor.

 **End section**


	6. Chapter 5

**Theron Stari || 1200 hours, Coruscant**

"Where in the nine hells are all these kriffing droids coming from!?" Theron shouted into the air.

A ripple of amusement ran down the line of troopers next to him, which included his two ARC trooper aides, Kav and Pront, who had been promoted from commandos to ARCs after the successful operation on Jakku, which had resulted in the destruction of an entire city of Seppie droid factories. Also included in the line was the entire 1st platoon of the 721st Legion, a group of elite soldiers in a unit of elite soldiers. The entire legion had landed just outside the Senate building, the gunships disgorging wave after wave of troopers onto the plaza. As soon as the 1st had landed, Theron had ordered them to follow him towards the nearest landing site, and tasked the other platoon commanders with doing the same once their platoons had landed, in hopes of sealing off the quadrant and protecting the Senators remaining inside the building. At least, that was the reasoning he had given to Command, in truth he just wanted to have a good fight alongside of his men, and with the amount of droids pushing to destroy the famed edifice, he was getting one.

"I think they're coming from the sky, sir! Falling like raindrops!" Kav called over the din of blaster fire. As soon as he said it, a group of Vulture droids fell from the sky, dropping into walker configuration as they entered the battlefield. Theron quickly slipped on the grenade attachment for his DC-17, firing three quick rounds into separate Vulture droids, sending them crashing to the ground. He turned his sights to a fourth Vulture, but the trigger clicked against an empty chamber.

" _Shab,"_ he muttered, then raised his voice. "Right wing focus fire on one droid, left wing take the other!"

The response came from the two lieutenants in charge of the two squadrons quickly. "Copy that, sir," they chorused.

The streams of fire bouncing from the line of troopers to the line of droids immediately shifted focus, with a torrent of blue blaster bolts tearing into the remaining Vultures on both sides of the battlefield. The Vultures dropped, smoking through dozens of holes in their armored shells, and the clones redirected their fire into the line of battle droids across from them. Soon, the last of the droid battle line fell, destroyed, and Theron gave the order to advance.

The platoon broke off in squadrons, starting from Alpha squad and continuing down the alphabet until all squads had left their cover and begun to sprint from cover to cover further down the skylane, pausing to take the occasional shot at a droid contingent. Moments later, the advance scouts for the platoon commed back to Theron. "General, there are multiple ATT and MTT class tanks up ahead. There's no way through, and no fast way around. If we don't penetrate through quickly then more droids will land and we'll be pushed back to the Senate building."

Theron paused to think for a moment, then opened a comm channel. "Ethibril, we need some air support. You available?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here, and I brought some friends!"

Almost immediately a wave of green-painted ARC-170s poured over the top of the building behind the droids, led from the front by a Eta-2 interceptor of the same color. From the fighters poured a long tapestry of blazing laser bursts, which quickly tore the enemy tanks to pieces.

"Thanks for the assist, mate. Any chance you could do a flyby of their landing site and tell us what you see?" Theron asked

"Sure thing." Ethibril said as he provided a low flyby. "Heads up, we've got a tinny landing craft headed your way." Ethibril reported. "Green Aces! Fire at will!"He shouted.

Theron smiled as an explosion in the sky rocked the ground they stood on. "Go, go, go!" he shouted. "There won't be much resistance left after that!"

Immediately, the platoon surged forward, splitting off into squads and fire teams to secure the area surrounding their advance. Reports came in quickly from the different units.

"Fireteam Foxtrot, engaging enemy."

"Bravo squad, moving to support."

"Right wing, no sign of organized resistance, moving up."

"Copy that right wing, same over here. Advancing."

The line of soldiers sweeping across the shattered cityscape quickly advanced on the landing site they had set out to secure. As they arrived at the landers, a new stream of droids emerged and took up a defensive line across from the advancing troopers. Behind them, a hunched, plastoid covered shape emerged from the lander. Theron recognized him immediately. "Command, the is Jedi General Theron Stari, do you read?" he commed to Arca Barracks.

"Theron, this is General Zey. We hear you loud and clear," the base responded.

"Master, General Grievous is planetside. I repeat, Grievous has landed. Engaging now."

"Copy. Do you require reinforcements?"

"Negative, he's accompanied only by a small contingent."

"Just as well, we have none to send. Good luck, Theron."

The link clicked off, and Theron turned to his men. "Let's go! _Oya, vode_!" he shouted. The line of clones moved forward and began exchanging fire with the droids in front of them. The platoon quickly began taking losses, but for every clone to die a dozen droids were destroyed. As the clones pushed forward, Grievous turned away from the battle and, along with two of his Magnaguards, moved towards the starfighters sitting on the landing platform. " _Shab,_ " Theron muttered. "I can't let him get away." He opened his comlink to talk to Ethibril again. "I don't suppose you can help me out again?" he asked.

"On it. Be down in a sec." Ethibril commed back. He immediately exited his starfighter with a powerful force-leap mid-flight, and for some reason unbeknownst to Theron, the fighter safely flew back to it's hangar.

Ethibril then landed next to Theron, creating a plume of dust stirred up by his impact. "Are you ready Theron?" Ethibril asked as he ignited his twin lightsabers.

Theron grinned in response. "Ready as I'll ever be, old friend." With that, the two Jedi lept into the fray, Ethibril's saber flashing, cutting down droids all around him in a deadly pinwheel of death, while Theron made use of the various weapons he carried. As they moved, he opened fire with his DC-17 in one hand and his Verpine sidearm, both steadied for a constant stream of fire with his Force abilities. As the distance closed, he slipped the Verp into its holster on his thigh and slung the Deece over the webbing he wore over the armor plates on his body, igniting his and his master's lightsabers, one in each hand, and ejecting the vibroblades in his gauntlets, allowing him to destroy droids with both his sabers and his fists. Within the hour, the two Jedi, combined with the platoon of elite troops backing them up and occasional air support from the Green Aces, had mopped up the last of the droids around the Senate building. Unfortunately, the battle raged on in other parts of the city, and Grievous had slipped away in the din of battle.

"Sir, this is 2nd Platoon. Finished up here," one of the platoon leaders broadcasted over the legion frequency.

"3rd Platoon, all tinnies down. Ready to move out."

"4th platoon, all resistance cleared. Awaiting orders."

"All units, pull back to the Senate building and prepare to move out. I'll comm Command and see where we're needed," Theron responded. He turned and gestured for Kav to give the order to return to the LZ. As his troops started to pull back, he turned to Ethibril to talk. "Looks we're all finished up here for now, you should probably get back into the shattered skies."

"Yeah you're right, those ships aren't going to destroy themselves, I'll call my fighter down". Ethibril said as he pressed a button on his commlink.

"Speaking of your fighter, how did it just fly away after you bailed out? Last time I checked, you didn't fly with an astromech."

"It's kind of a long story, While the Green Aces and I were attacking a capital ship, and uh, do you remember Sorrell Kalee? My -um- girlfriend, I guess was on the ship and I rescued her and she flew herself back to the medbay."

Theron chuckled. "In that case, you had better hurry. Women don't like to be kept waiting, mate. Oh, and we all knew that you and Sorrell liked each other. You could take some lessons from a Hutt about lying," he grinned.

Ethibril glared at him. "Yeah ok, it's really funny that I, the computer geek, have a girlfriend, the only sad part is that you still don't." Ethibril retorted.

"Not that you know of," Theron smirked.

Theron turned, still smiling, and jogged after the retreating backs of his men. Without any droids to fight, the platoon quickly reached the plaza that served as their makeshift LZ, arriving just as the other three platoons did. Theron force-jumped up onto the cockpit of one of the LAAT/i gunships waiting to ferry the legion wherever they needed to go. As he opened his mouth to address his troops, a small group of men in blue riot armor carrying A280 blaster rifles jogged up to the assembled troopers. Theron called down to them. "What can we do for you today, officers?" he asked.

The men were Coruscant Security Force officers, kitted out with the best combat gear available to them. "We're here to help, General…" the one in front, obviously the leader responded.

"General Stari. But call me Theron, we're informal around here. And what can you do for us today?" he asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Aresh, and these men are the members of CSF SWAT and HRT that I could gather on short notice." the cop responded.

"Special Weapons and Tactics and Hostage Rescue Team. Ever worked with Jaller Obrim?" Theron asked.

"Yes, sir," Aresh responded. "We've been tasked to ATU pretty regularly, especially during the rash of attacks a couple of years ago."

"Alright, then. Let's see if you're qualified to join up with the 721st Legion," Theron said. He commed Jaller, holding up a finger to signal them to wait.

"Theron, what is it? We're a little busy, there's kind of a war on!" Obrim answered.

"This'll only take a moment, Jaller. I have some boys from CSF who want to give us a hand. A Lieutenant Aresh and his SWAT and HRT teams. They say they've worked with you before, are they good?" he asked.

Obrim chuckled. "Aresh and his boys are some of the best I've seen, including my time in the Senate Guard. They'll do well by you."

"Thanks, Jaller." As the call ended, another message came over his comlink.

"Republic forces, this is RAS Hand of Justice requesting assistance. We have been boarded by a large number of Seperatist forces, and the majority of our marines have been slaughtered. Requesting assistance from ground and air forces. This is RAS Hand of Justice…"

Theron turned to Aresh and his men. "Are your troops up to speed on vehicle interdictions in vacuum?"

Aresh grinned. "Of course. What are we interdicting?"

Theron smiled back. "A Star Destroyer."

Aresh's smile quickly dropped from his face.

 **End Section**


	7. Chapter 6

**Ethibril Kiro ll Coruscant**

Ethibril turned away from Theron and walked to his now landed starfighter as he and his friend parted ways once again. He then quickly engaged his thrusters and was off to join the Green Aces.

"I'm back boys. What's on tap right now?" Ethibril said through the comm channel.

"Oh, y'know, little bit of vulture droids mixed with a shot of capital cruiser and the just arrived shipment of Star destroyers." responded Jester sarcastically.

"Star Destroyers? What class?" Ethibril asked as he dodged laser fire and blew up a vulture droid.

"Acclamator sir." Jester answered. Ethibril chuckled to himself. Knowing Theron, he and some other gung-hos were probably planning something brave, yet terribly stupid. "Alright, thanks for the update Jester."

"You got it boss." Jester said.

As the battle raged on, Ethibril's mind soon drifted to other things, as the few dogfights he was a part of were almost routine, due to the vulture droids lack of imagination and individuality. He thought of Sorrell, and Theron.

He remembered back to when they were still in a youngling clan, and were only a few weeks away from their first trials. Sorrell was always a bright student, always willing to lend a hand to another youngling who struggled with one of the various subjects the young Jedi learned under the tutelage of various masters. She also had a serious side to her. It was actually when Ethibril's youngling clan went to Illum, to collect the kyber crystals needed to craft their very own lightsabers. One of the more spry younglings, by the name of T'nok, had chosen to immediately travel deep into the caverns. He eventually go lost in his wandering, and fell off of a steep ledge, and suffered from a broken leg and several cracked ribs.

Along with that, a band of space pirates had somehow made their way into the hallowed grounds of the Jedi, and were searching their greedy little butts off for some kyber crystals to sell for a high price on the intergalactic black market. While in the cave, Sorrell heard T'nok cry out in pain through the force, and she eventually found him in the cave, along with the pirates.

Using the force, she commanded hundreds of tiny rocks found on the floor of the cave to come to life and hurl themselves at the pirates. She alone successfully killed one of them, while the others were advancing on her. Ethibril and Theron had also felt a disturbance in the force, so they rushed to go assist. With their combined force abilities, they were able to not only leave the cave with their new lightsaber crystals, but also with a band of tied up space pirates as trophies.

It was at this moment that Ethibril realized how much he liked her.

At first, he thought that she didn't even know his name, but over time, his affection for her slowly grew throughout their time as younglings, and the affection became mutual as they began to spend more and more time together. He loved her for her cunning, bravery, and strong will when times were tough, but she was also very stubborn.

When the time came to become a padawan, the two tried to stay together for as long as possible, but eventually had to say goodbye, as their paths went different ways. Ethibril had missed her all those years, but now finally being reunited, Ethibril thought that they could maybe start again, and this time, not leave each other.

He could honestly care less about the Jedi Code forbidding love or relationships within the Jedi Order. The ones who had fashioned it had obviously never fallen in love before.

His mind drifted like this for around two hours, as he ducked and dived, weaving in and out of the seemingly endless waves of vulture droids. Then, a low toned beep sounded from the comlink on his arm. He activated it to intercept the message.

" Republic forces, this is RAS Hand of Justice requesting assistance. We have been boarded by a large number of Seperatist forces, and the majority of our marines have been slaughtered. Requesting assistance from ground and air forces. This is RAS Hand of Justice…" This went on twice, then another beep showed the response from planetside.

"This is Jedi Knight Theron Stari, moving to assist."

So, this is what he planned to do. Theron was smart, and he was a skilled fighter, but single handedly clearing the decks of a RAS? That seemed like a big bite, even for Theron.

Ethibril put a hand to his comlink and spoke into it. "Jedi Knight Ethibril Kiro, moving to assist RAS Hand of Justice via air support, closing on position.".

He tilted the joystick of his fighter, and rejoined the com channel of the Green Aces. "Green Aces 10 through 19, form up behind, me, we are moving to assist the RAS Hand of Justice. It's status is currently being interdicted, and it's up to us to clear its skies."

Each pilot confirmed the order, and turned starboard towards the Hand. He turned his com-channel on to Theron's channel.

"Theron! It's Ethibril! I have a contingent of fighters heading towards the Hand, what is your position?" Ethibril yelled into the comlink.

"Ethibril, we're in gunships about two klicks out from the Hand. We're free and clear of fighters, but it would help a lot if you could burn some of those boarding ships off of Hand's hull," Theron commed.

"Copy that Theron. You hear that boys? Take out the boarding ships to give the interdiction team some room!".

"On it commander." responded Green 10. He split off with half of the fighters and took on the port side of cruiser. Ethibril took the rest to the starboard side, and begin strafing the sides, the boarding crafts practically disentigrating under the tsunami of blaster fire.

"All clear on port side commander." Green 10 Said through the comlink.

"Good work, set up a defensive mobile perimeter." Ethibril said.

"Theron, you are clear, I repeat, you are clear for interdiction." Ethibril said.

"Copy that, Green Leader. Thanks for the assist," he responded.

"Need me to come down to assist? Green 10 can keep up things outside the hull."

While Ethibril was waiting for Theron's response, he saw just out of the corner of his eye a large landing craft burst through the defensive blockade. He immediately sensed a dark presence.

"Uh, Theron?" Ethibril said shakily into the comlink.

"I feel it too. You'd better get down here now." Theron said.

"Yeah, I'm comin down no-" Ethibrils voice was cut off as the interdicting ship ripped apart his right wing with blaster fire.

"Green Leader going down! Mayday, mayday, I am taking a crash landing into the Hand! " Ethibril shouted as lights flashed all around him as he fought for control of the Starcraft. His spaceship landed with a jolt as he entered the hangar bay at breakneck speed. He crashed into a service pole, and everything went black

 **End section**


End file.
